Controlling markets during a stop loss trigger

ABSTRACT

A system mitigates the effects of a market spike caused by the triggering and election of conditional orders in an automated matching system. The system monitors trading that takes place as a result of the cascading triggering of conditional orders. When an order is executed beyond a predetermined price threshold, an instrument may be flagged, allowing matching to take place only at or within the predetermined price threshold. Orders within the price threshold are matched at the price threshold against orders beyond the price threshold, in order to dampen any instantaneous damaging effects of the price spike. The system may adjust the price threshold when market appropriate, allowing the order flow to bring the market back to whatever is the true price level. The system mitigates price fluctuations that are purely conditional order cascade driven, but allows the market to continuously trade in controlled price and time intervals to ensure that a true market move can still occur and not have price control mechanisms hinder trade matching and true price discovery.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/713,126, filed Nov. 14, 2003, which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 60/490,145, filed Jul. 25, 2003. The entire content of these applications are incorporated by reference in their entirety except that in the event of any inconsistent disclosure from the present disclosure, the disclosure herein shall be deemed to prevail.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Technical Field

This invention relates to monitoring financial transactions, and particularly, to mediating an unbalanced market.

2. Related Art

The speed in which trades are executed through electronic trading systems provide many benefits. Electronic trading systems can facilitate a large number of market transactions. The greater the number of market transactions, the greater a market's liquidity. In liquid markets, prices are driven by competition; prices reflect a consensus of an investment's value; and trading systems provide a free and open dissemination of information.

While speed and efficiency in electronic markets can enhance trader wealth, these qualities can also increase the adverse affect of a trade that triggers an election of buy or sell stop orders. In a futures market that has few resting orders but many stop orders, an order executed at a limit price can cause a cascading execution of buy or sell stop orders. The triggering and election of these stop orders can seem almost instantaneous, lowering the value of a market in just a few seconds.

A problem may occur when one or more trades bring many stop orders into the market. A fast execution of these stop orders may prevent opposite side orders from entering the market, preventing buyers from competing against other buyers and sellers from competing against other sellers. An onset of stop orders may enter the market in the following sequence:

1. A stop order, triggered by a trade, enters the market at a limit price.

2. The limit price trades almost immediately.

3. A second stop order to buy, triggered by the last trade, enters the market at a higher limit price (or a lower limit price if the order is a stop order to sell).

4. This new limit price trades almost immediately.

5. A third stop order to buy, triggered by the last trade, enters the market at a higher limit price (or a lower limit price if the order is a stop order to sell) and so forth.

The order processing sequence occurs quickly; so quickly that traders may not be able to prevent the buy or sell stop orders from trading away from the current market prices by entering opposite side orders.

The entire process may be illustrated through a hypothetical E-Mini S&P 500 futures market (“ESM3”). In Table 1, an order entered on the bid side of the market for a quantity of 1 at a price of 873.75, trades. As the order trades, multiple stop orders enter the market, which in turn trade and bringing other stop orders into the market. In the ESM3 market, TABLE 1 ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 6 Stop (88075) 5 88475 87375 10 TON 1 TON 7 Stop (87875) 5 88475 87475 5 TON 2 TON 8 Stop (87825) 5 88325 87675 5 TON 3 TON 9 Stop (87675) 5 88475 87900 1 TON 4 TON 10 Stop (87525) 5 88475 88075 1 TON 5 TON 11 Stop (87375) 10 87900 TON 12 Stop (87375) 10 87675 Incoming 1 87375

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming (1-lot) trades with Trade Order Number (TON) 1         (1-lot) at 873.75;     -   TON 12-Stop (87375), TON 11-Stop (87375) are triggered by Trade         1;     -   Trade 2 TON 12 (9-lot) trades with TON 1 (9-lot) at 873.75;     -   Trade 3 TON 12 (1-lot) trades with TON 2 (1-lot) at 874.75;     -   Trade 4 TON 11 (4-lot) trades with TON 2 (4-lot) at 874.75;     -   Trade 5 TON 11 (5-lot) trades with TON 3 (5-lot) at 876.75;     -   TON 10-Stop (87525), TON 9-Stop (87675) are triggered by Trade         5;     -   Trade 6 TON 11 (1-lot) trades with TON 4 (1-lot) at 879.00;     -   TON 8-Stop (87825) and TON 7-Stop (87875) are triggered by Trade         6.     -   Trade 7 TON 10 (1-lot) trades with TON 5 (1-lot) at 880.75; and     -   TON 6-Stop (88075) is triggered by Trade 7.

After the cascading triggers of stop orders trade, the final resting price of the market drops to 884.75. TABLE 2 ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY 19 88475 5 88325

To mitigate the harmful effects of a cascading trigger of stop orders, some exchanges have adopted policies and procedures that, in the appropriate case, permit the cancellation or busting of selected trades. However, the cancellation or busting of trades does not occur simultaneously and is not in the best interest of market participants. An exchange must first identify the problem and then decide on a solution.

In the hypothetical E-Mini S&P 500 futures market, first the exchange must determine what caused the market movement. Once that problem is discovered, the exchange would then have to decide if the market movement lies outside of a “no-bust range.” In a “no-bust range,” trades executed within a price range may not be subject to cancellation, even if executed in error. Trades executed at prices outside of the exchange's “no-bust range” are considered as quite possibly being beyond normal market forces. Considering the high interdependence of many markets, disruptions may occur in other related markets such as the Nasdaq-100 Index or a larger S&P 500 futures contract that are highly correlated to the hypothetical E-Mini S&P 500.

While such decisions are considered, traders are exposed to serious market risk until a decision is made and until they are notified of the decision. Furthermore, traders will not know if their gains or loses will be reversed. Traders that were short before the cascade of stop order triggers occurred and bought at the bottom of the market may not realize expected gains. Similarly, traders that went long after the market dip could lose their expected gains. Because gains and loses may disappear the instant an exchange announces that trades will be busted, some traders will not spend unrealized money on new trades. Other traders may be forced out of the market until the decision to bust trades is reached to avoid an unexpected margin call.

The present invention is directed to a system and method that overcome some of these potential drawbacks in the prior art.

SUMMARY

The present invention is defined by the following claims. This description summarizes some aspects of the present embodiments and should not be used to limit the claims.

A system mitigates a spike caused by the triggering and election of stop orders in an automated trading system. The system includes evaluation logic, stop-loss trigger logic, and matching logic. The evaluation logic monitors orders submitted to the automated trading engine and compares an execution price of the stop order to a predetermined price threshold. The stop-loss trigger logic flags the market for an instrument when the execution price of the stop order lies beyond the predetermined price threshold. The matching logic matches orders for the instrument in the flagged market against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold at the predetermined price threshold. The orders for the instrument in the flagged market include orders received at the automated trading engine having a price within the predetermined price threshold.

A method of mitigating a spike caused by the triggering and election of a conditional order includes monitoring orders submitted to the automated trading engine in an automated matching system. The method compares the execution price of the conditional order to a predetermined price threshold and flags the market for an instrument when the execution price of the stop order lies beyond the predetermined price threshold. The method matches orders for the instrument in the flagged market against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold, at the predetermined price threshold. The orders for the instrument in the flagged market include orders received at the automated trading engine having a price within the predetermined price threshold.

Further aspects and advantages of the invention are described below in conjunction with the present embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The system may be better understood with reference to the following drawings and description. The components in the figures are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, in the figures, like referenced numerals designate corresponding parts throughout the different views.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram encompassing a present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a trade evaluation system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an alternative trade evaluation system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of an alternative embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The system mitigates or prevents market spikes due to the triggering, election and trading of conditional orders. The system includes an automated trading engine that performs a verification of a tradable conditional order that is triggered, to ensure that a traded price will not violate a predetermined trade threshold or existing exchange matching rules. If a potential trade price lies outside of the trade threshold, the instrument may be flagged in the market. When the market is flagged, orders for instruments in the flagged market may be matched at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold. The orders for instruments may include orders received that have a price within the predetermined price threshold. Although the orders may be matched at the predetermined price threshold, the orders may be matched in a sequence prioritized by the price, order arrival, or another parameter.

The price threshold may vary by the product and/or the time of day. In addition, the price threshold may be adjusted when orders have a price beyond the predetermined price threshold, a predetermined time interval is exceeded, or based on some other parameter. When this occurs, the orders for instruments may be matched at the adjusted price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold.

FIG. 1 is a system diagram encompassing a present embodiment. The figure illustrates a hub-and-spoke system, wherein each resource, application, or order flows through a single entity (e.g., the hub 114) before being received by servers 110-112. In this embodiment, the hub 114 and the servers 102-112 may be integrated into a single server or comprise a server cluster made up of a group of independent computers that work together as a single system but present the appearance of a single server to one or more clients.

In FIG. 1, the clients are illustrated as interfaces 120-126, and one or more networks such as a wide area network (“WAN”), a local area network (“LAN”), a ring network, a token ring network, a bus network, 128 and 130, etc. Other peripheral devices may be coupled to hub 114, such as a printer, a speaker, and/or any other device.

Preferably, the hub 114 comprises a management server. The management server receives, converts, and transfers data in a form compatible with protocols used by servers 110-112, a communication link 116, the interfaces 120-126, and/or the networks 128 and 130. The interfaces may include an application programming interface (an “API”) 124, a data interface 122, a market data interface 120, and/or other interfaces 126, for example. Preferably, the market data interface 120 provides quote vendors with access to selected output disseminated from the hub 114.

In FIG. 1, the hub 114 provides routing control to a trade matching system, such as an automated trading engine shown as servers 110 and 112. When orders are matched automatically by a matching algorithm or system within one or both of the servers 110 and/or 112, preferably the details of the trade and information of interest to the market are disseminated to quote vendors and trade participants that include the buyers and the sellers.

Preferably, the trade evaluation system 118, shown as servers 102-108 in FIG. 1 interfaces the hub 114. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, the trade evaluation system 118 may include an order book manager 202, an order processor 204, a spike control processor 206, a reserve market processor 208, and an open market processor 210. In FIG. 3, the trade evaluation system 118 may include evaluation logic 306, delay logic 308, pricing logic 310, timing logic 312, stop-loss trigger logic 314, matching logic 316, and step price logic 318. Preferably, the evaluation logic 306 and order processor 204 calculate a price threshold, or a price that extends above or below a selected or a theoretical price. Such a threshold or interval may be fixed within a number of ticks above and below a last traded price. The threshold or interval may vary by product, instrument, contract, or other relevant market considerations.

When the system is used in a futures exchange, the price threshold or range may comprise a no-bust range that defines a price interval within which transactions that fall within that interval are not subject to cancellation by the exchange. Preferably, trades that fall within the no-bust range do not have a significant adverse effect on the market, and therefore, the trade stands even in error. In these embodiments, the trades that fall within the no-bust range cannot be cancelled by agreement. In other embodiments, trades that fall within the no-bust range may be cancelled by an agreement between market participants.

Preferably, the market data interfaces 120, the data interfaces 122, the networks 128 and 130, the APIs 124 and the other interfaces 126 provide market participants, quote vendors, and others with real and/or delayed time access to trade data. The trade data can include investment prices such as futures contract prices, settlement prices, bids, offers, and other exchange related or derived information. In some embodiments, inter-process communication methods, such as a Dynamic Data Exchange (“DDE”) and/or an Object Linking and Embedding (“OLE”) are used to exchange data and commands between two or more servers or applications that run simultaneously.

As shown in FIG. 2, the trade evaluation system 118 includes an order book manager 202, an order processor 204, a spike control processor 206, a reserve market processor 208, and an open market processor 210. Preferably, orders flow into the order processor 204 and are maintained by the order book manager 202. The order book manager 202 may maintain the exchange's order books, manage communication with an automated trading engine, and allow an exchange administrator to establish order filters (e.g., trading authorizations, instrument access, price bands, trading limits, etc.).

The order book manager 202 may also retain a predetermined or a programmable parameter used by order process logic or the order processor 204. In this embodiment, instrument parameters are stored in a table of rows and columns. In another embodiment, the parameters are stored in a data structure comprising a list of entries that use a unique key to identify each entry. The data structure may include a set of related values such as a linked list that use a common indexing scheme. In these embodiments, an instrument is reserved when the instrument is stored in a data table or data structure.

Preferably, parameters are initialized on start up of an automated trading engine and are maintained for a predetermined period of time such as a trading week. When a conditional order is triggered in a futures market, such as a stop order that enters the market at a limit or market price, the order processor 204 compares an execution price of the stop order to a predetermined price threshold such as a no-bust range. Preferably, this comparison determines if the transaction may be completed. If an execution price lies outside of the predetermined price threshold, the order processor 204 notifies the spike control processor 206.

Once notified, the spike control processor 206 may control the matching of orders received by the order book manager. A register, current, or software routine used to measure time intervals may be activated by the spike control processor 206 to measure a time interval. The time interval may vary in relation to a time of day, a product, a trader's location, market volatility, and/or any other relevant market conditions or combination of market conditions. The spike control processor 206 may activate a quantity counter to measure the amount and/or size of the orders. The quantity threshold may vary in relation to a time of day, a product, a trader's location, market volatility, and/or any other relevant market conditions or combination of market conditions.

The spike control processor 206 may match orders with prices within the predetermined price threshold against orders with prices beyond the predetermined price threshold. Orders with prices beyond the threshold may be aggregated so that their trade price is at or near the predetermined price threshold. Orders may be matched at the predetermined price threshold. Although orders may be executed at the predetermined price threshold, orders may be matched in an order prioritized by price, order arrival, or other parameters. Incoming orders with prices beyond the threshold may be aggregated at the predetermined price threshold. At the end of the time interval and/or upon reaching the quantity threshold, if all of the aggregated orders are matched against orders within the predetermined price threshold, then trading may continue with limited or without constraints.

At the end of the time interval and/or upon reaching the quantity threshold, aggregated orders may remain that have not been matched against orders within the threshold. In these circumstances, the predetermined price threshold may be adjustable and may vary with market volatility, time of day, or other parameter. The adjustment of the price threshold may be stepped in a predetermined price interval. For example, for orders on the bid side of a market, the price threshold may be stepped up, and for orders on the offer side of a market, the price threshold may be stepped down. If the price threshold is adjusted, the execution price of the matched orders may be at the adjusted price threshold, instead of at the predetermined price threshold. The matching of orders may continue until no aggregated orders remain.

In an alternative embodiment, once notified, the spike control processor 206 may reserve the instrument through a reserve market processor 208 and activates a verification timer. The verification timer may measure a time interval that varies in length in relation to a time of day, a product, a trader's location, market volatility, and/or any other relevant market conditions or combination of market conditions. At the end of an initial time period, the spike control processor 206 compares an indicative opening price to the predetermined price threshold. If the indicative opening price is above/below the predetermined threshold, the verification timer is reactivated for an additional iteration that may vary with one or more market conditions. In this embodiment, the indicative opening price is a changing price that may be based on an indicative trade, a better bid, or a better offer. Similarly, a predetermined price threshold may comprise a dynamic price range that changes with each iteration.

In this alternative embodiment, the spike control processor 206 will reserve a market unless the indicative opening price lies within the predetermined price threshold, a predetermined number of iterations or time periods lapse, or a manual intervention occurs. When one of those conditions occurs, the spike control processor 206 notifies the open market processor 210 to open the market. One variable utilized by the spike control processor 206 identifies the duration that an instrument may be held in reserve. A price verification time variable is invoked and a timer activated when the order processor 204 invokes the spike control processor 206. The price verification time variable comprises a programmable or a constant time value.

This alternative embodiment of the spike control processor 206 also uses a price iteration variable. The price iteration variable comprises a programmable multiplier. Preferably, the product of the price iteration variable and price verification time variable calculates a maximum length of time an instrument may remain in a reserved state. If the price verification time variable is five seconds and the price iteration variable is eleven, the maximum time the market may be in a reserved state is fifty-five seconds. The time variables are initialized on start up and are maintained for a length of time, such as a trading week. If the variables are changed before the period lapses, such as in the middle of a trading week, the variables may be update in a real or a delayed time.

Another embodiment of the trade evaluation system 118 shown in FIG. 3 couples an automated trading engine 110 and 112. In this embodiment, the trade evaluation system includes evaluation logic 306, delay logic 308, pricing logic 310, timing logic 312, stop loss trigger logic 314, matching logic 316, and step price logic 318. Preferably, the evaluation logic 306 monitors orders submitted to an automated matching system or automated trading engine 110 and 112. The evaluation logic 306 may compare an execution price of a conditional order such as a stop order to a predetermined price threshold. The price threshold may include price ranges that reflect a range of prices that extend above and below an actual or synthetic market price. The price threshold may differ by product, may be fixed within a number of ticks above and below an actual or synthetic market price, or may vary above and below an actual or synthetic market price. Additionally, a synthetic no bust range may also be used including the no bust ranges disclosed in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/405,025 entitled System and Method for Monitoring Trades of a No-Bust Range in an Electronic Trading System, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety.

While in some embodiments price comparisons occur in delayed or batch time, preferably the comparison occurs in real-time, such as within a narrow time period after a potential trade would occur. If the price of the trade for an instrument is within the price threshold, the trade stands and an open continuous trading is maintained. If the price of the trade lies outside of the predetermined price threshold, the evaluation logic 306 may notify the stop loss trigger logic 314 to flag a market for the instrument. The matching logic 316 may match orders with prices within the predetermined price threshold for the instrument in the flagged market at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold. The matching logic 316 may aggregate the orders beyond the threshold so that their price is at the predetermined price threshold. Although orders may be executed at the predetermined price threshold, orders may be matched by the matching logic 316 in an order prioritized by price, order arrival, or other parameters. At the end of a time interval and/or upon reaching a quantity threshold, if all of the aggregated orders are matched against orders within the predetermined price threshold, then trading may continue normally.

At the end of the time interval and/or upon reaching the quantity threshold, aggregated orders may remain that have not been matched against orders within the threshold. In this case, the predetermined price threshold may be adjusted and vary with a market volatility, time of day, or other parameter. The step price logic 318 may step the price threshold in a predetermined price interval. For example, for orders on the bid side of a market, the price threshold may be stepped up, and for orders on the offer side of a market, the price threshold may be stepped down. If the price threshold is adjusted by the step price logic 318, the execution price of the matched orders may be at the adjusted price threshold, instead of at the predetermined price threshold. The matching of orders may continue until no aggregated orders remain.

In an alternative embodiment, if the price of the trade caused by the execution of conditional orders falls outside of the price range, the evaluation logic 306 places the product into a reserved state. Upon reservation of the product, delay logic 308 determines a maximum time the market may remain in a reserved state. Pricing logic 310 derives an opening price at which a product would trade upon the opening of the market or an equilibrium price that falls substantially within the overlap of the pending bid and offer prices. The pricing logic 310 calculates opening prices upon demand, in delayed-time, or in real-time as orders are received. The delay logic 308 delays the matching of orders submitted to the automated trading engine 110 and 112. The delay will reserve a product until an opening price lies within a price range, a period of time lapses, or an automated or a manual intervention occurs. Price ranges, delay, and/or the measure of time are retained in an audit trail and/or memory coupled to or resident to the evaluation system 118. The tracking and/or storage of one or more of these values can preserve market integrity and allow an exchange to review an event.

As shown in FIG. 4, one or more of the components that comprise the trade evaluation system 118 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3 may couple a control center 402 and the trade matching system 110 and 112. Preferably, the trade matching system 110 and 112 uses one or more matching systems or methods, such as a “first in, first out” (“FIFO”), an allocation, a hybrid price/time priority, such as a Lead Market Maker (“LMM”), for example, or any other matching systems or methods to automatically match orders. Once the details of the orders are entered through a user interface 404, preferably, the trade matching system 110 and 112 executes the trade and transmits matched trade data (e.g., instrument type, the price, the quantity, the buyer, the seller, etc.) to the trade evaluation system 118 and the user interface 404. The trade matching system 110 and 112 also transmits matched trade data and quote data to the quote and data vendors 120 and 122. Preferably, the matched trade data and quote data describe recent market movements.

Through a control center 404, preferably an exchange or a member of the exchange oversees the reservation of products in the market. The control center 404 may manually or automatically override the trade evaluation system 118 or perform a state change on any product, instrument, parameter, or group. The control center may view, configure, and program the predetermined price thresholds and timing variables of FIG. 2 to any market condition or combination of market conditions just as it may view, configure, and program the logic of FIG. 3 to such market conditions.

To assure that market participants and the exchange are aware of the status of the market or any changes to thresholds, variables, or logic, preferably, the evaluation system 118 may provide a notice to the user interfaces 120-126 (FIG. 1) and 404 (FIG. 4), the control center 404 (FIG. 4), and any communication system. In some instances, each of the embodiments may provide selected notices only to the control center 404, allowing the exchange to notify the market of certain conditions if needed through a messaging system.

Because market participants may not be aware that a product or an instrument is reserved due to the large volume of messages sent over an electronic trading system or because the market participants are no longer trading, the present system and method also may encompass independent communication systems that are coupled to the trade evaluation system 118 to convey information, warnings, or alerts about an instrument in a reserved state. Such systems can include devices that send and/or receive messages via telecommunication or wireless links such as portable phones, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), and/or electronic mail devices, devices that send and/or receive images and can print them on a tangible media such as faxes, etc. Preferably, these systems make market participants aware of the state of the market in a narrow timeframe.

The present system and method mitigates or prevents market spikes caused by the triggering, election, and trading of conditional orders. An embodiment of the method may be translated into a computer readable medium, programming instructions (e.g., code), or information that can be stored and retrieved from a volatile or non-volatile memory.

Any exchange, such as a futures exchange that enforces a no-bust range or another price range may use the method shown in FIG. 5. The method may be encoded in a signal bearing medium, a computer readable medium such as a memory, programmed within a device such as one or more integrated circuits, or processed by a controller, a computer, a server, or a server cluster. If the methods are performed by code or software, the code or software may reside in a memory resident to or interfaced to the trade matching system 110 and 112 of FIG. 1 or 3, a communication interface, or any other type of non-volatile or volatile memory interfaced or resident to the trade evaluation system 118 of FIG. 2. The memory may include an ordered listing of executable instructions for implementing logical functions. A logical function may be implemented through digital circuitry, through source code, or through analog circuitry. The code or software may be embodied in any computer-readable or signal-bearing medium, for use by, or in connection with an instruction executable system, apparatus, or device. Such a system may include a computer-based system, a processor-containing system, or another system that may selectively fetch instructions from an instruction executable system, apparatus, or device that may also execute instructions.

A “computer-readable medium,” “machine-readable medium,” “propagated-signal” medium, and/or “signal-bearing medium” includes any and all systems, components, apparatuses, and/or devices that contain, store, communicate, propagate, or transport code or software for use by or in connection with an instruction executable system, component, apparatus, or device. The machine-readable medium may selectively be, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, device, or propagation medium. A non-exhaustive list of examples of a machine-readable medium would include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable magnetic or optical disk, a volatile memory such as a Random Access Memory “RAM,” a Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), a Read-Only Memory “ROM,” an Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an electrical Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and an optical fiber (optical). A machine-readable medium may also include a tangible medium upon which code or software is printed, as the code or software may be translated into a high-level language that may be compiled through a scanner, and/or interpreted or otherwise processed. The processed medium may then be stored in a computer and/or machine memory.

As shown in FIG. 5, a stop order is triggered and enters the market at a limit price or at a market price at act 502. In this embodiment, a stop order, sometimes called a stop-loss order, or simply a stop, is an order to buy or sell at a limit price when the market reaches a specified price. A limit price is a specified price or a price that is more favorable to the trader. A limit order to buy will be executed at or below the specified price limit. A limit order to sell will be executed at or above the specified price limit.

At act 504, the method compares an execution price to a no-bust range that is calculated separately for each product or instrument. The no-bust range may comprise a synthetic price range or a last traded price plus or minus a no bust-range variable.

If the price of the trade lies within the no-bust range, the trade stands and open continuous trading is maintained at acts 506 and 508. The process will then be applied each time a stop order would create a trade. A price comparison is performed at each tradable price level of the market.

If the price of the trade falls outside of the no-bust range, preferably, the product is placed into a reserved state at acts 506 and 510. Upon its reservation, a timer that is coupled to or resident to an automated trading engine is activated. A counter will also be activated to track the number of times an indicative opening price verification process is performed.

In the illustrated embodiment, the counter is initialized to “1” at act 512. Preferably, the counter cannot exceed a value that is retained in a table or a data structure. If more than one comparison to an indicative opening price occurs, a varying price range (e.g., an expanded no-bust range) will be determined for verification of an indicative opening price. The varying price range may comprise a product of the no-bust range and a multiplier. Preferably, the multiplier increases incrementally or in multiples each time an indicative opening price verification occurs.

Once a predetermined length of time lapses, an indicative opening price and a price range are calculated and broadcast to the market through a data feed at acts 514 and 516. The indicative opening price represents a price at which a product would trade upon an opening of a market. An indicative opening price may comprise an equilibrium price that falls within an overlap of bid and offer prices.

A comparison of an indicative opening price to a calculated price range occurs at act 518. If the indicative opening price lies within the price range, the market opens, and trading begins at the indicative opening price or a market price. The process resumes when another stop order is triggered at act 502.

If the indicative opening price lies outside of the price range, process variables are incremented at acts 522 and 524, and the process continues until a predetermined number of iterations is reached at act 526. When a maximum number of iterations are reached, a product reopens at act 520 and the process resumes when another stop order is triggered at act 502.

If a maximum number of iterations is not reached, the process resumes when the time variable is read or programmed at act 528 and another indicative opening price is calculated. At act 514, the indicative opening price is a dynamic price that changes as orders are entered into the market and pending orders are modified, and/or cancelled. The present method continues until a predetermined number of iterations is reached or an external event occurs. An external event may include the closing of the market or a manual market intervention.

In FIG. 6, a stop order is triggered and enters the market at a limit price or at a market price at act 602. At act 604, the method compares an execution price to a predetermined price threshold that is calculated separately for each product or instrument. If the price of the trade lies within the predetermined price threshold, the trade stands and open continuous trading is maintained at acts 606 and 608. The process will then be applied each time a stop order would create a trade. A price comparison is performed at each tradable price level of the market.

If the price of the trade is beyond the predetermined price threshold, preferably, the market for the product is flagged at acts 606 and 610. Upon flagging of the market, a timer that is coupled to or resident to an automated trading engine is activated. A counter may also be activated to track the quantity of orders that are matched or executed. At act 612, orders within the predetermined price threshold are matched at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold. Orders beyond the predetermined price threshold may be aggregated so that their execution price is at the predetermined price threshold instead of their respective prices. The priority of the order matching may be based on the price of the orders, the order arrival, or other parameters.

At act 614, the method determines if aggregated orders beyond the threshold still remain after matching for a certain time interval or for a certain quantity. If no aggregated orders remain, the market may continue with normal trading in act 616. However, if aggregated orders remain, then the method may continue to act 618. At act 618, the method may determine whether the predetermined price threshold should be adjusted. The predetermined price threshold may be adjusted based on, for example, if additional orders are received with a price beyond the predetermined price threshold, if a predetermined time interval is exceeded, and/or if a predetermined quantity is exceeded. If the price threshold does not need to be adjusted, then the method returns to act 612 and order matching is performed at the predetermined price threshold. However, if the price threshold needs to be adjusted, the method continues to act 620, where the price threshold may be stepped by a predetermined price interval. The method returns to act 612 and order matching may be performed at the adjusted price threshold.

The above-described embodiments scale well to large networks, to new products, or to the large volatility that occurs in the markets that trade popular contracts. The embodiments may facilitate any exchange between buyers and sellers, including markets that exchange equities, debt, investment indices, and other investments as well as any commodity or combination or series of commodity contracts, such as bundles that can comprise the purchase of one of a series of consecutive contracts.

When the trade evaluation system 118 is integrated or linked to an automated trading engine that matches spreads, all related spreads are automatically reserved when the spread lies outside of a predetermined threshold. When reserved, all related spread instruments are reserved and any implied spreading becomes inactive. When the market is allowed to open, all spreads corresponding to an underlying leg open. In addition, if a contract is utilizing implied trading, the implied trading will be turned off until the exchange's rules or other rules allow for a re-initiating of an implied trading.

As shown in FIG. 4, the trade evaluation system 118 may couple a control center 402. Through the control center an exchange administrator may take an appropriate action on a spread and manually open corresponding spreads. Under these circumstances the implied spreading will remain inactive for a remainder of a trading session. An exchange administrator may also set a group of differing contracts to a pre-opening, take appropriate action on the spread, and reset an opening for the group of differing contracts. In one embodiment, implied spreading is automatically reactivated at the opening of a market if the states of the investment leg allow it.

The present embodiments described above provide exchanges and users with a flexible approach and structure that mitigates or prevent sharp rises or declines in market prices due to the triggering, election, and trading of conditional orders. To further illustrate the present embodiments, exemplary markets are described and illustrated.

In a first example, a price verification time is programmed to five seconds and the initial no-bust range is six. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 6 Stop (88075) 5 88475 87375 10 TON 1 TON 7 Stop (87875) 5 88475 87475 5 TON 2 TON 8 Stop (87825) 5 88325 87675 5 TON 3 TON 9 Stop (87675) 5 88475 87900 1 TON 4 TON 10 Stop (87525) 5 88475 88075 1 TON 5 TON 11 Stop (87375) 10 87900 TON 12 Stop (87375) 10 87675 Incoming 1 87375

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs when an Incoming—Buy of 1@873.75 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming (1-lot) trades with TON 1(1-lot) at 873.75;     -   TON 12-Stop (87375), TON 11-Stop (87375) are triggered by Trade         1;     -   Trade 2 TON 12 (9-lot) trades with TON 1(9-lot) at 873.75;     -   Trade 3 TON 12 (1-lot) trades with TON 2 (1-lot) at 874.75;     -   Trade 4 TON 11 (4-lot) trades with TON 2 (4-lot) at 874.75;     -   Trade 5 TON 11(5-lot) trades with TON 3 (5-lot) at 876.75;     -   TON 10-Stop (87525), TON 9-Stop (87675) are triggered by Trade         5;     -   Trade 6 TON 11 (1-lot) trades with TON 4 (1-lot) at 879.00; and     -   TON 8-Stop (87825) and TON 7-Stop (87875) are triggered by Trade         6.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 880.75 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 873.75, the market will not trade past a price of 879.75. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON # QTY BID ASK QTY TON # TON 6 Stop (88075) 5 88475 88075 1 TON 5 TON 10 5 88475 TON 9 5 88475 TON 7 5 88475 TON 8 5 88325

After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market will be allowed to open at or near the end of the five second delay and the following trade will take place using normal indicative opening price logic:

-   -   Trade 7 TON 10 (1-lot) trades with TON 5 (1-lot) at 880.75; and

TON 6-Stop (88075) is triggered by Trade 7. ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY 19 88475 5 88325

In a second example, an imbalance condition occurs during execution of a single conditional order. When a sell order enters the market for a quantity of 1 at 860.00, a cascade of stop orders is triggered. In this example, the minimum price that can be traded for this trading session is 854.00. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 1 86000 85300 6 Stop (86000) TON 6 TON 2 1 85900 TON 3 1 85800 TON 4 2 85400 TON 5 1 85300 86000 1 Incoming

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs when an Incoming—Sell of 1@860.00 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 860.00;     -   TON 6-Stop (86000) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 2 (1-lot) trades with TON 6 (1-lot) at 859.00;     -   Trade 3 TON 3 (1-lot) trades with TON 6 (1-lot) at 858.00; and     -   Trade 4 TON 4 (2-lot) trades with TON 6 (2-lot) at 854.00.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 853.00 would violate the no bust range. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 860.00, the market will not trade past a price of 854.00. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON # QTY BID ASK QTY TON # TON 5 1 85300 85300 1 TON 6

After waiting the preset length of time, if the indicative opening price is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market will be allowed to open at or near the end of the five second delay and the following trade will take place:

Trade 5 TON 5 (1-lot) trades with TON 6 (1-lot) at 853.00. ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY

In a third example, an upper no bust range violation occurs. Like the other examples, the price verification time is programmed to about a five second interval and the initial no-bust range is about six.

In this example, a buy order enters the market for a quantity of at 873.75. The maximum price that can be traded for this trading iteration is 879.75. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 12 Stop (87375) 10 87675 87375 10 TON 1 TON 11 Stop (87375) 10 87900 87475 5 TON 2 TON 10 Stop (87525) 5 88475 87675 5 TON 3 TON 9 Stop (87675) 5 88475 87900 1 TON 4 TON 8 Stop (87825) 5 88325 88475 1 TON 5 TON 7 Stop (87875) 5 88475 TON 6 Stop (88075) 5 88475 Incoming1 1 87375

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Buy of 1 (873.75 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 873.75;     -   TON 12-Stop (87375), TON 11-Stop (87375) are triggered by Trade         1;     -   Trade 2 TON 11 (9-lot) trades with TON 1 (9-lot) at 873.75;     -   Trade 3 TON 11 (1-lot) trades with TON 2 (1-lot) at 874.75;     -   Trade 4 TON 12 (4-lot) trades with TON 2 (4-lot) at 874.75;     -   Trade 5 TON 12 (5-lot) trades with TON 3 (5-lot) at 876.75;     -   TON 10-Stop (87525), TON 9-Stop (87675) are triggered by Trade         5;     -   Trade 6 TON 10 (1-lot) trades with TON 4 (1-lot) at 879.00; and     -   TON 8-Stop (87825) and TON 7-Stop (87875) are triggered by Trade         6.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 884.75 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 873.75, the market will not trade past a price of 879.75. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 10 4 88475 88475 1 TON 5 TON 9 5 88475 TON 7 5 88475 TON 6 Stop (88075) 5 88475 Triggered in IOP TON 8 5 88325 TON 12 1 87675

After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market will be allowed to open at or near the end of the five second delay and the following trade will take place:

-   -   Trade 7 TON 11 (1-lot) trades with TON 5 (1-lot) at 884.75; and

TON 6-Stop (88075) is triggered by Trade 7. ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY 18 88475 5 88325 1 87675

In a fourth example, a lower no bust range violation occurs. Like the other examples, the price verification time is programmed to about a five second interval and the initial no-bust range is about six.

In this example, a sell order enters the market for a quantity of 1 at 860.75. The maximum price that can be traded for this trading iteration is 854.75. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 10 86075 85975 10 Stop (86075) TON 7 TON 2 5 86000 85900 5 Stop (86000) TON 8 TON 3 5 85900 85875 5 Stop (85900) TON 9 TON 4 5 85875 85500 5 Stop (85875) TON 10 TON 5 1 85500 85450 5 Stop (85500) TON 11 TON 6 10 85450 86075 1 Incoming1

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Sell of 1@860.75 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 860.75;     -   TON 7-Stop (86075) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 1 (9-lot) trades with TON 7 (9-lot) at 860.75;     -   Trade 3 TON 2 (1-lot) trades with TON 7 (1-lot) at 860.00;     -   TON 8-Stop (86000) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 2 (4-lot) trades with TON 8 (4-lot) at 860.00;     -   Trade 5 TON 3 (1-lot) trades with TON 8 (1-lot) at 859.00;     -   TON 9-Stop (85900) is triggered by Trade 5;     -   Trade 6 TON 3 (4-lot) trades with TON 9 (4-lot) at 859.00;     -   Trade 7 TON 4 (1-lot) trades with TON 9 (1-lot) at 858.75;     -   TON 10-Stop (85875) is triggered by Trade 7;     -   Trade 8 TON 4 (4-lot) trades with TON 10 (4-lot) at 858.75;     -   Trade 9 TON 5 (1-lot) trades with TON 10 (1-lot) at 855.00; and     -   TON 11-Stop (85500) is triggered by Trade 8.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 854.50 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 860.75, the market will not trade past a price of 854.75. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 6 10 85450 85450 5 TON 11

After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market will be allowed to open at or near the end of the five second delay and the following trade will take place:

Trade 10 TON 6 (5-lot) trades with TON 11 (5-lot) at 854.50. ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY 5 85450

In a fifth example, a manual intervention occurs. Like the other examples, the price verification time is programmed to about a five second interval.

In this example, a sell order enters the market for a quantity of 1 at 874.00. The minimum price that can be traded for this trading iteration is 868.00. The ESM3 market should be reserved when violating the no bust range at 868.00. However, due to a manual intervention, the five-second iteration variable is overridden. The instrument will re-open by a manually initiating of an opening command. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 10 87400 87325 10 Stop (87400) TON 7 TON 2 5 87350 87300 5 Stop (87350) TON 8 TON 3 5 87300 87250 5 Stop (87300) TON 9 TON 4 5 87250 86800 5 Stop (87250) TON 10 TON 5 1 87250 86750 5 Stop (87250) TON 11 TON 6 10 86750 86750 10 Stop (87250) TON 12 87400 1 Incoming1

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Sell of 1@ 874.00 enters the market.

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1(1-lot) at 874.00;     -   TON 7-Stop (87400) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 1(9-lot) trades with TON 7 (9-lot) at 874.00;     -   Trade 3 TON 2 (1-lot) trades with TON 7 (1-lot) at 873.50;     -   TON 8-Stop (873.50) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 2 (4-lot) trades with TON 8 (4-lot) at 873.50;     -   Trade 5 TON 3 (1-lot) trades with TON 8 (1-lot) at 873.00;     -   TON 9-Stop (87300) is triggered by Trade 5;     -   Trade 6 TON 3 (4-lot) trades with TON 9 (4-lot) at 873.00;     -   Trade 7 TON 4 (1-lot) trades with TON 9 (1-lot) at 872.50;     -   TON 10-Stop (87250), TON 11-Stop (87250), and TON         12-Stop (87250) are triggered by Trade 7;     -   Trade 8 TON 4 (4-lot) trades with TON 10 (4-lot) at 872.50; and     -   Trade 9 TON 5 (1-lot) trades with TON 10 (1-lot) at 872.50.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 867.50 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 874.00, the market will not trade past a price of 868.00. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 6 10 86750 86750 5 TON 11 86750 10 TON 12

Due to a manual intervention, the instrument will not re-open until an exchange administrator performs an alternate manual intervention to re-open the market.

In a sixth example, a price comparison to a multiple of the no-bust range occurs. When a sell order enters the market for a quantity of 1 at 865.75, a cascade of stop orders is triggered. The minimum price that may be traded for the first trading iteration is 859.75 (1×) and the minimum price that may be traded for the second iteration is 853.75 (2×). The ESM3 market will be reserved at 859.75 (one iteration) and 853.75 (two iterations). ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 10 86575 86550 10 Stop (86575) TON 8 TON 2 5 86550 86450 5 Stop (86550) TON 9 TON 3 5 86500 86200 5 Stop (86500) TON 10 TON 4 5 86450 86250 5 Stop (86450) TON 11 TON 5 1 86250 86150 5 Stop (86250) TON 12 TON 6 10 86200 85300 10 Stop (86200) TON 13 TON 7 5 85300 86575 1 Incoming1

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Sell of 1@865.75 enters market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 865.75;     -   TON 8-Stop (86575) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 1(9-lot) trades with TON 8 (9-lot) at 865.75;     -   Trade 3 TON 2 (1-lot) trades with TON 8 (1-lot) at 865.50;     -   TON 9-Stop (86550) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 2 (4-lot) trades with TON 9 (4-lot) at 865.50;     -   Trade 5 TON 3 (1-lot) trades with TON 9 (1-lot) at 865.00;     -   TON 10 Stop (86500) is triggered by Trade 5;     -   Trade 6 TON 3 (4-lot) trades with TON 10 (4-lot) at 865.00;     -   Trade 7 TON 4 (1-lot) trades with TON 10 (1-lot) at 864.50;     -   TON 11-Stop (86450) is triggered by Trade 7;     -   Trade 8 TON 4 (4-lot) trades with TON 11 (4-lot) at 864.50;     -   Trade 9 TON 5 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 862.50;     -   TON 12-Stop (86250) is triggered by Trade 9;     -   Trade 10 TON 6 (5-lot) trades with TON 12 (5-lot) at 862.00;     -   TON 13-Stop (86200) is triggered by Trade 10; and     -   Trade 11 TON 6 (5-lot) trades with TON 13 (5-lot) at 862.00.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 853.00 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 865.75, the market will not trade past a price of 859.75 (1×) and 853.75 (2×). The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 7 5 85300 85300 5 TON 13

After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price (853.00) is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market will repeat a second iteration in a reserve state. After the second iteration, the market will again validate the indicative opening price and the market will re-open because the indicative opening price (853.00) is within the new price range.

-   -   Trade 12 TON 7 (5-lot) trades with TON 13 (5-lot) at 853.00.

In a seventh example, an instrument is scheduled to close before the expiration of the stop price validation variable. If the instrument is currently in a reserve state due to a no bust range violation, the instrument will proceed to a closed state. The following sequence illustrates this example:

-   -   Price logic is violated due to the triggering of a stop order         violating the no bust range.     -   The market is placed in a reserved state for an initial         iteration of a predetermined time.     -   While the timer is measuring the timing interval, a group         controller closes the instrument.     -   The stop price validation parameter is reset due to an override         by the group controller.

In an eighth example, an imbalance condition occurs during execution of a single conditional order. The minimum price that can be traded for this trading iteration is 854.00. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 1 86000 85300 6 Stop (86000) TON 6 TON 2 1 85900 TON 3 1 85800 TON 4 2 85400 TON 5 1 85300 86000 1 Incoming1

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Sell of 1@860.00 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 860.00;     -   TON 6-Stop (86000) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 2 (1-lot) trades with TON 6 (1-lot) at 859.00;     -   Trade 3 TON 3 (1-lot) trades with TON 6 (1-lot) at 858.00; and     -   Trade 4 TON 4 (2-lot) trades with TON 6 (2-lot) at 854.00.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 853.00 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 860.00, the market will not trade past a price of 854.00. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 5 1 85300 85300 2 TON 6

After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market will be allowed to open at the end of the five second delay and the following trade will take place:

Trade 5 TON 5 (1-lot) trades with TON 6 (1-lot) at 853.00. ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY 85300 1

In a ninth example, the market is in a reserved state. Additional orders are entered which alter the indicative opening price and allow the market to open. If the new limit orders were not entered, the market would have remained reserved due to violation of the no bust limit. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 21 Stop (85400) 5 85525 85400 1 TON 1 TON 20 Stop (85525) 5 85625 85525 5 TON 2 TON 19 Stop (85625) 5 85775 85625 5 TON 3 TON 18 Stop (85775) 5 85950 85775 5 TON 4 TON 17 Stop (85950) 5 86025 85950 5 TON 5 TON 16 Stop (86025) 5 86350 86025 5 TON 6 TON 10 Stop (86550) 5 86600 86600 5 TON 7 TON 9 Stop (86550) 5 86650 86650 5 TON 8 Incoming1 1 85400

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Buy of 1@854.00 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 854.00;     -   TON 21-Stop (85400) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 21 (5-lot) trades with TON 2 (5-lot) at 855.25;     -   TON 20-Stop (85525) is triggered by Trade 2;     -   Trade 3 TON 20 (5-lot) trades with TON 3 (5-lot) at 856.25;     -   TON 19-Stop (85625) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 19 (5-lot) trades with TON 4 (5-lot) at 857.75;     -   TON 18-Stop (85775) is triggered by Trade 4;     -   Trade 5 TON 18 (5-lot) trades with TON 5 (5-lot) at 859.50; and     -   TON 17-Stop (85950) is triggered by Trade 5.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 860.25 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 854.00, the market will not trade past a price of 860.00. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 17 5 86025 86025 5 TON 6 Incoming3 5 86650 86550 5 Incoming4 Incoming2 5 86650 86550 5 Incoming5 TON 10 Stop (86550) 5 86600 86600 5 TON 7 TON 9 Stop (86550) 5 86650 86650 5 TON 8

As shown, during the reserve state, new orders were received. Due to the incoming orders, the indicative opening price is now 866.00. After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price (866.00) is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second iteration. In this example, the market will be allowed to re-open because the indicative opening price (866.00) is within the new range (866.00).

-   -   TON 10-Stop (86550) and TON 9-Stop (86550) is triggered by the         indicative opening price;     -   Trade 6 TON 10 (5-lot) trades with Incoming4 (5-lot) at 866.00;     -   Trade 7 TON 9 (5-lot) trades with Incoming5 (5-lot) at 866.00;     -   Trade 8 Incoming3 (5-lot) trades with TON 7 (5-lot) at 866.00;         and

Trade 9 Incoming2 (5-lot) trades with TON 6 (5-lot) at 866.00. ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY 5 86025 86650 5

In a tenth example, the market is reserved. The indicative opening price is a better bid that violates the no bust range and the market remains reserved. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 11 Stop (85400) 5 85525 85400 1 TON 1 TON 10 Stop (85525) 5 85625 85525 5 TON 2 TON 9 Stop (85625) 5 85775 85625 5 TON 3 TON 8 Stop (85775) 5 85950 85775 5 TON 4 TON 7 Stop (85950) 5 86625 85950 5 TON 5 86625 5 TON 6 Incoming1 1 85400

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Buy of 1 @854.00 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 854.00;     -   TON 11-Stop (85400) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 11 (5-lot) trades with TON 2 (5-lot) at 855.25;     -   TON 10-Stop (85525) is triggered by Trade 2;     -   Trade 3 TON 10 (5-lot) trades with TON 3 (5-lot) at 856.25;     -   TON 9-Stop (85625) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 9 (5-lot) trades with TON 4 (5-lot) at 857.75;     -   TON 8-Stop (85775) is triggered by Trade 4;     -   Trade 5 TON 8 (5-lot) trades with TON 5 (5-lot) at 859.50; and     -   TON 7-Stop (85950) is triggered by Trade 5.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 866.25 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 854.00, the market will not trade past a price of 860.00. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 7 5 86625 86625 5 TON 6

During the reserved state, the remaining offer is cancelled (TON 6) and a new order is entered at a price of 867.00. The indicative opening price is currently an 867.00B (better bid). ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON Incoming2 5 86700 TON 7 5 86625

After waiting a predetermined length of time, the indicative opening price (867.00B) is outside the no bust range of 866.00(2×6.00) and the market will remain in reserved state for a second iteration. After the second iteration is exhausted, the indicative opening price lies within the no bust range and the market opens.

In an eleventh example, the market is reserved. Upon validation of an indicative opening price (an indicative opening price that is a better offer (A)), the market remains reserved because the indicative opening price violates the no bust range. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 1 86525 86450 5 Stop (86525) TON 7 TON 2 5 86450 86400 5 Stop (86450) TON 8 TON 3 5 86400 86300 5 Stop (86400) TON 9 TON 4 5 86300 85300 5 Stop (86300) TON 10 TON 5 5 85300 86525 1 Incoming1

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Sell of 1@865.25 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 865.25;     -   TON 7-Stop (86525) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 2 (5-lot) trades with TON 7 (5-lot) at 864.50;     -   TON 8-Stop (86450) is triggered by Trade 2;     -   Trade 3 TON 3 (5-lot) trades with TON 8 (5-lot) at 864.00;     -   TON 9-Stop (86400) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 4 (5-lot) trades with TON 9 (5-lot) at 863.00; and     -   TON 10-Stop (86300) is triggered by Trade 4.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 853.00 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 865.25, the market will not trade past a price of 859.25. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 5 5 85300 85300 5 TON 10

During the reserved state, the remaining bid is cancelled (TON 5) and a better offer enters the market. The indicative opening price is currently an 852.00A (better offer). ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON 85300 5 TON 10 85200 5 TON 11

After waiting a predetermined length of time, the indicative opening price (852.00) is outside the no bust range of 853.25(2×6.00) and the market will remain in reserved state for a second iteration. After the second iteration is exhausted, the indicative opening price will lie inside the no bust range and the market opens.

In the twelfth example, the market is reserved. Upon validation of an indicative opening price, (an indicative opening price that is a better bid (B)) the market opens because the indicative opening price no longer violates the no bust range. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 11 Stop (85400) 5 85525 85400 1 TON 1 TON 10 Stop (85525) 5 85625 85525 5 TON 2 TON 9 Stop (85625) 5 85775 85625 5 TON 3 TON 8 Stop (85775) 5 85950 85775 5 TON 4 TON 7 Stop (85950) 5 86025 85950 5 TON 5 86025 5 TON 6 Incoming1 1 85400

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Buy of 1@854.00 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 854.00;     -   TON 11-Stop (85400) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 11 (5-lot) trades with TON 2 (5-lot) at 855.25;     -   TON 10-Stop (85525) is triggered by Trade 2;     -   Trade 3 TON 10 (5-lot) trades with TON 3 (5-lot) at 856.25;     -   TON 9-Stop (85625) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 9 (5-lot) trades with TON 4 (5-lot) at 857.75;     -   TON 8-Stop (85775) is triggered by Trade 4;     -   Trade 5 TON 8 (5-lot) trades with TON 5 (5-lot) at 859.50; and     -   TON 7-Stop (85950) is triggered by Trade 5.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 860.25 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 854.00, the market will not trade past a price of 860.00. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 7 5 86025 86025 5 TON 6

During the reserved state, the remaining offer is cancelled (TON 6). After waiting a preset length of time, the indicative opening price will be the bid price (860.25) which is no longer in violation of the no bust range (866.00) and the market opens.

In a thirteenth example, the market is reserved. Upon a validation of the indicative opening price (an indicative opening price that is a better offer (A) that no longer violates the no bust range) the market opens. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 1 86525 86450 5 Stop (86525) TON 7 TON 2 5 86450 86400 5 Stop (86450) TON 8 TON 3 5 86400 86300 5 Stop (86400) TON 9 TON 4 5 86300 85900 5 Stop (86300) TON 10 TON 5 5 85900 86525 1 Incoming1

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Sell of 1@865.25 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at 865.25;     -   TON 7-Stop (86525) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 2 (5-lot) trades with TON 7 (5-lot) at 864.50;     -   TON 8-Stop (86450) is triggered by Trade 2;     -   Trade 3 TON 3 (5-lot) trades with TON 8 (5-lot) at 864.00;     -   TON 9-Stop (86400) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 4 (5-lot) trades with TON 9 (5-lot) at 863.00; and     -   TON 10-Stop (86300) is triggered by Trade 4.

The market is placed in a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 859.00 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 865.25, the market will not trade past a price of 859.25. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 5 5 85900 85900 5 TON 10

During the reserved state, the remaining bid is cancelled (TON 5). After waiting a preset length of time, the indicative opening price is the offer price (859.00) which is no longer in violation of the no bust range (853.25) and the market opens.

When a buy order enters the market for a quantity of 1 at 861.00, a cascade of stop orders is triggered in a fourteenth example. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 6 Stop (86100) 5 86250 86100 1 TON 1 TON 7 Stop (86250) 5 86350 86250 5 TON 2 TON 8 Stop (86350) 5 86450 86350 5 TON 3 TON 9 Stop (86450) 5 86850 86450 5 TON 4 TON 10 Stop (86450) 5 86875 86800 5 TON 5 TON 11 Stop (86450) 10 86900 Incoming1 TON 12 1 86100

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Buy of 1@861.00 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming 1, TON 12 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at         861.00;     -   TON 6-Stop (86100) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 2 (5-lot) trades with TON 6 (5-lot) at 8620.50;     -   TON 7-Stop (86250) is triggered by Trade 2;     -   Trade 3 TON 3 (5-lot) trades with TON 7 (5-lot) at 863.50;     -   TON 8-Stop (86350) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 4 (5-lot) trades with TON 8 (5-lot) at 864.50; and     -   TON 9-Stop (86450), TON 10-Stop (86450) and TON 11-Stop (86450)         are triggered by Trade 4.

The market is placed into a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 868.50 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 861.00, the market will not trade past a price of 867.00. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON Incoming2 indicative 10 86875 86875 12 TON 5 opening price TON 9 5 86850 TON 10 5 86875 TON 11 5 86900

During the first iteration, a second incoming order is entered which generates a bias on the bid side of the market. The indicative opening price generated after the second incoming order enters a 10-lot on the bid side and a 12-lot on the offer side at a price of 868.75. After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market opens at the end of a five second delay because the indicative opening price (868.75) is not outside the no bust range (873.00). The following trades then take place:

-   -   Trade 7 TON 10 (5-lot) trades with TON 5 (5-lot) at 868.75;     -   Trade 8 TON 11 (5-lot) trades with TON 5 (5-lot) at 868.75; and

Trade 9 Incoming2 (2-lot) trades with TON 5 (2-lot) at 868.75. ESM3 QTY BID ASK QTY 8 86875 5 86850

When a sell order enters the market for a quantity of 1 at 861.00, a cascade of stop orders is triggered in a fifteenth example. The minimum price that can be traded in this trading iteration is 859.25. ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 1 1 865.25 864.50 5 Stop (865.25) TON 6 TON 2 5 864.50 864.00 5 Stop (864.50) TON 7 TON 3 5 864.00 863.00 5 Stop (864.00) TON 8 TON 4 5 863.00 859.00 5 Stop (863.00) TON 9 TON 5 12 859.00 858.50 5 Stop (863.00) TON 10 858.00 5 Stop (863.00) TON 11 Incoming1 1 865.25 TON 12

With the market in a continuous trading state, the following sequence occurs if Incoming1—Buy of 1@65.25 enters the market:

-   -   Trade 1 Incoming1, TON 12 (1-lot) trades with TON 1 (1-lot) at         865.25;     -   TON 6 (865.25) is triggered by Trade 1;     -   Trade 2 TON 2 (5-lot) trades with TON 6 (5-lot) at 864.50;     -   TON 7 (864.50) 864.00 is triggered by Trade 2;     -   Trade 3 TON 3 (5-lot) trades with TON 7 (5-lot) at 864.00;     -   TON 8 (864.00) is triggered by Trade 3;     -   Trade 4 TON 4 (5-lot) trades with TON 8 (5-lot) at 863.00; and     -   TON 9 (86300), TON 10 (86300) and TON 11 (86300) are triggered         by Trade 4.

The market is placed into a reserved state because the trade that would occur at a price of 859.00 would violate the no bust range. The no bust range for ES is currently six. Since the stop iteration began with a trade price of 865.25, the market will not trade past a price of 859.25. The order book will display the following in a reserved state: ESM3 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 5 12 859.00 859.00 5 TON 9 858.75 10 Incoming2 858.50 5 TON 10 858.00 5 TON 11

During the first iteration a second incoming order entered generates a bias on the sell side of the market. The indicative opening price generated after the second incoming order enters a 12-lot on the bid side and 10-lot on the offer side with an indicative opening price of 858.75. After waiting a predetermined length of time, if the indicative opening price is greater than twice the no bust range (12.00 from the original last price), the market will remain in a reserved state for a second time iteration. In this example, the market will open at the end of a five second delay because the indicative opening price (858.75) is not outside the no bust range (853.25).

-   -   Trade 7 TON 10 (5-lot) trades with TON 5 (5-lot) at 858.75;     -   Trade 8 TON 11 (5-lot) trades with TON 5 (5-lot) at 858.75; and     -   Trade 9 Incoming2 (2-lot) trades with TON 5 (2-lot) at 858.75.

In a sixteenth example, a buy stop order enters the GEU7 market with a predetermined price threshold of 9500. The buy stop order creates a stop order cascade that has released stop orders TON 5 through TON 13 to the market. The stop orders TONS through TON 13 have prices beyond the best ask price. The GEU7 order book will display the following: GEU7 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 5 20 9520 9500 30 TON 1 TON 6 100 9517 9501 500 TON 2 TON 7 1000 9517 9502 150 TON 3 TON 8 500 9516 9503 150 TON 4 TON 9 200 9510 TON 10 150 9505 TON 11 50 9502 TON 12 50 9502 TON 13 100 9500

The GEU7 market will be flagged because the predetermined price threshold of 9500 has been reached. Because the predetermined price threshold has been reached, the quantity in the released stop orders TON 5 through TON 13 is aggregated at the predetermined price threshold of 9500. The GEU7 order book will display the following when the market is flagged: GEU7 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON Aggregated 2140 9500 9500 30 TON 1 9501 500 TON 2 9502 150 TON 3 9503 150 TON 4

The order priority may be maintained, based on the best price and the order arrival time. The following trade occurs after the stop orders TON 5 through TON 13 are aggregated at the predetermined price threshold of 9500:

-   -   Trade 1 TON 1 (30-lot) trades with Aggregated (30-lot) at 9500         -   Aggregated (30-lot) is TON 5 (20-lot) originally at 9520 and             TON 6 (10-lot) originally at 9517

The GEU7 order book will display the following after Trade 1 is executed: GEU7 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON Aggregated 2110 9500 9501 500 TON 2 9502 150 TON 3 9503 150 TON 4

Trading continues and any orders above the predetermined price threshold are aggregated with the existing orders that are already aggregated. The order priority continues to be maintained. Incoming sell orders are matched with the aggregated buy orders at the predetermined price threshold. Orders in the aggregated pool may be cancelled or modified.

In a seventeenth example, the GEU7 market has already been flagged after a buy stop order cascade. The GEU7 market has a predetermined price threshold of 9500. The quantity in the released stop orders has been aggregated at the predetermined price threshold of 9500. After a predetermined interval and/or a predetermined quantity have been reached, the entire quantity in the aggregated buy order pool has not all been matched with sell orders. The GEU7 order book displays the following: GEU7 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON Aggregated 10708 9500 9506 640 TON 1 9507 330 TON 2 9508 740 TON 3

Because there is quantity remaining in the aggregated buy order pool that cannot be matched with sell orders, the predetermined price threshold is adjusted. The predetermined price threshold is adjusted by a predetermined price interval. In this example, the predetermined price interval is 5. The predetermined price interval is adjusted up for the buy orders to 9505. The TON 4 through TON 7 orders that were aggregated at 9500 are now individually listed in the GEU7 order book because their prices are below the adjusted price threshold, and trading continues normally. The GEU7 order book displays the following: GEU7 TON QTY BID ASK QTY TON TON 4 9954 9505 9506 640 TON 1 TON 5 320 9504 9507 330 TON 2 TON 6 334 9503 9508 740 TON 3 TON 7 100 9502

While some embodiments of the invention have been described, it should be apparent that many more embodiments and implementations are possible and are within the scope of this invention. It is intended that the foregoing detailed description be regarded as illustrative rather than limiting, and that it be understood that it is the following claims, including all equivalents, that are intended to define the spirit and scope of this invention. 

1. A stop-loss system that mitigates the effects of a market spike caused by the triggering and election of a stop order, comprising: evaluation logic that monitors orders received at an automated trading engine in an automated trade matching system, the evaluation logic configured to compare an execution price of the stop order to a predetermined price threshold; stop-loss trigger logic that flags a market for an instrument when the execution price of the stop order lies beyond the predetermined price threshold; and matching logic that matches orders for the instrument in the flagged market at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold, where the orders for the instrument in the flagged market comprise orders received at the automated trading engine having a price within the predetermined price threshold.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the predetermined price threshold is associated with a no-bust range.
 3. The system of claim 1 wherein the predetermined price threshold comprises a variable price threshold that varies with any of a market volatility, time of day, and combinations thereof.
 4. The system of claim 1 wherein the matching logic is further configured to match orders for the instrument in the flagged market at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold, and prioritize the matching of orders based on price, order arrival, or a combination thereof.
 5. The system of claim 1 further comprising step price logic that adjusts the predetermined price threshold when orders received at the automated trading engine for the instrument in the flagged market have a price beyond the predetermined price threshold, a predetermined time interval is exceeded, a predetermined quantity is exceeded, or a combination thereof.
 6. The system of claim 6 wherein the orders received at the automated trading engine for the instrument in the flagged market that have a price beyond the predetermined price threshold are matched at the adjusted price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold.
 7. A system that mitigates the effects of rises or falls in market prices caused by the execution of a conditional order, comprising: an order book manager that receives orders; an order processor that compares an execution price of the conditional order to a predetermined price threshold; and a spike control processor that controls the matching of at least one order received by the order book manager when the price of the conditional order lies beyond the predetermined price threshold, orders received by the order book manager within the predetermined price threshold being matched at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold.
 8. The system of claim 7 wherein the predetermined price threshold is associated with a no-bust range.
 9. The system of claim 7 wherein the predetermined price threshold comprises a variable price threshold that varies with any of a market volatility, time of day, and combinations thereof.
 10. The system of claim 7 wherein the spike control processor is further configured to control the matching of orders such that the orders are matched at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold, and are prioritized based on price, order arrival, or a combination thereof.
 11. The system of claim 7 further comprising a step price processor that adjusts the predetermined price threshold when orders received at the order book manager have a price beyond the predetermined price threshold, a predetermined time interval is exceeded, a predetermined quantity is exceeded, or a combination thereof.
 12. The system of claim 11 wherein the orders received at the order book manager that have a price beyond the predetermined price threshold are matched at the adjusted price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold.
 13. A method of mitigating the effect of a market spike caused by the triggering and election of a conditional order, comprising: monitoring orders submitted to an automated trading engine in an automated matching system; comparing the execution price of the conditional order to a predetermined price threshold; flagging a market for an instrument when the execution price of the stop order lies beyond the predetermined price threshold; matching orders for the instrument in the flagged market at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold, where the orders for the instrument in the flagged market comprise orders received at the automated trading engine having a price within the predetermined price threshold.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the predetermined price threshold is associated with a no-bust range.
 15. The method of claim 13 wherein the predetermined price threshold comprises a variable price threshold that varies with any of a market volatility, time of day, and combinations thereof.
 16. The method of claim 13 wherein matching orders further comprises matching orders for the instrument in the flagged market at the predetermined price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold, in a priority order based on price, order arrival, or a combination thereof.
 17. The method of claim 13 further comprising adjusting the predetermined price threshold when orders received at the automated trading engine for the instrument in the flagged market have a price beyond the predetermined price threshold, a predetermined time interval is exceeded, a predetermined quantity is exceeded, or a combination thereof.
 18. The method of claim 17 wherein matching orders further comprises matching orders for the instrument in the flagged market at the adjusted price threshold against orders beyond the predetermined price threshold. 